Cornette Library to Host Third Session in Muslim Journeys Series

CANYON, Texas—Cornette Library at West Texas A&M University will host the third session of its Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys series with th documentary Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21 at Mary Moody Northen Hall, Room 189 on campus.

Cornette Library is one of 125 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to participate in the project, which seeks to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world. Funding for Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys is provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA). Cornette Library will host the free series in eight different reading/viewing and discussion sessions.

Thursday’s presentation is a PBS documentary produced in 2011 that looks at Islamic art from the large ornamented palaces to metalwork and carved boxes to calligraphy. The film covers more than 1,400 years of history and features the art of nine countries. Dr. Amy Von Lintel, assistant professor of art history at WTAMU, will introduce the film, present excerpts and lead a discussion about its content. Light refreshments will be served.

The remaining programs of the series will look at one more DVD and four additional books that all explore the theme of connected histories. The library hosts one program per month through May. The next books include House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance on Jan. 15; Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Christians, and Jews Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain on Feb. 13; Leo Africanus on March 20; and In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler’s Tale on May 15. Copies of each book to be read and discussed will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to the first 25 participants at the meetings prior to each book discussion.

The remaining DVD to be viewed and discussed is Koran by Heart on April 17.

All of the books to be discussed in this series are part of the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys. The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts, as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, Southeast Asian studies, African studies and Islamic studies.

The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf is a project of NEH, conducted in cooperation with the ALA Public Programs Office, with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts.

For information about Cornette Library and its resources and services, please visit the library’s website at wtamu.edu/library. For more information about the Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys series, contact Mary Jarvis at 806-651-2225 or at mjarvis@wtamu.edu.